NASCAR Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar was handed a $50,000 fine for revving his engine and spinning the tires when the safety workers attended to his car after he spun out at Kansas Speedway last weekend. Now, the 22-year-old driver has revealed his side of the story, claiming that he briefly restarted the car to shift it into neutral.
The incident occurred after the No. 77 Delaware Life Chevrolet of Spire Motorsports spun on Lap 260 of the Hollywood Casino 400. This caused the tires to go flat, forcing him to remain stationary by the track. When the safety personnel reached him for assistance, NASCAR officials reported that Hocevar revved his engine and spun his tires as safety workers attended to his car.
Competition officials handed Hocevar a $50,000 fine for a violation of Sections 4.4.B&D: NASCAR Member Conduct in the NASCAR Rule Book. Now though, Hocevar has made his intent clear about restarting the car, which unknowingly caused the tires to spin. He said:
“I fired it up just to throw it into neutral. It’s sometimes hard to get these things into neutral so I fired it up. Honestly, I didn’t know it spun the tires. Obviously, there’s a tow truck in front of me so I’m not going anywhere.
“I was trying to go someplace earlier but the tires were off the ground and they just spin. But they judge based off of actions and visibility and not intent, right? The tires spun, black and white, so next time I might just have them rock the car to throw me in neutral. That’s on me not … I was sitting there in third gear doing a burnout so it’s on me not thinking about the tires spinning. It was educational for me. It’s expensive too. It’s educational for our guys too so I could just say I’m stuck in second and go from there.
“NASCAR doesn’t have the intent. They can’t know the plan and story behind everything and judge everything and sometimes they have to call it the way they see it.”
He added:
“It got to like 1200 RPMs right? I just fired it up, threw it into neutral and shut it off, and I didn’t even realize the tires were spinning. They called it right.”
The Spire Motorsports driver was running P13 when the incident occurred. Eventually, he finished the race in 29th place.
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